Wis. Teen With HIV Gets Settlement

Published 8:00 pm, Monday, February 4, 2002

A grocery store will pay $90,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by a teen-ager with HIV who was fired when the manager found out she has the virus.

Korrin Krause, 16, worked one day last March at Quality Foods IGA in the Wausau suburb of Schofield before the manager fired her after calling her mother to verify the girl has the virus that causes AIDS.

She had told the hiring manager she needed to take her breaks at certain times to take HIV medication.

The AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin helped Krause file a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. It said the store violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, which bars employers from asking about workers' HIV status or discriminating against those with the virus.

A commission official found reasonable cause in May to believe a violation had occurred. On Monday, the commission said the store would pay the teen-ager $1,000 in lost wages and $89,000 in emotional distress damages.

The store's owner, Bernie Enkro, said the firing resulted from miscommunication, and he is glad the issue was settled.

Krause was born with the virus. Her biological mother died in 1994 and she has since been adopted.